It is estimated that 60 to 75 percent of all software development projects fail or are over budget. This is analogist to building a house without a floor plan and other design related documents. If a house is started and bathrooms are moved, square footage is increased and a second story is added, the costs will more than double. This is also true in the software industry.
There are a number of books that have been written about developing software successfully and many more opinions about what is required for successful develop software. The truth is there is more than one method that will work. The most important requirement for a successful software project is the team. In other words the best methods will fail if the people involved are not experienced and committed to the success of the software project. SepaSoft has successfully adopted the following steps for developing custom software.
Definition
Before investing money into software development, the first step is clearly defining what is required, what it will look like and how it will function.
The design can be challenging and must be done correctly to insure a successful development project and SepaSoft has over 30 years of working as a team with customers to define software requirements.
Development
Based on the design, SepaSoft can assess if existing software, programs or services can be used to meet your requirements. Why rebuild what other have already done? From there, SepaSoft can develop any remaining custom software to make your requirements a reality. SepaSoft will follow their internal standard best practices unless your company has established their own best practices. The benefit of standard practices is that proved methods are reused and don’t have to be developed from scratch resulting in lower cost and reliable software.
Testing
Effective testing is commonly overlooked resulting in chaos, frustrated employees and possibly customers reflecting badly on your company. It is important to have a testing plan and staff separate from the developers perform the testing. This can be any combination of SepaSoft and customer staff.
Ongoing Support
It is common that your business will change over time requiring modification to your custom software to keep your business running smoothly. SepaSoft is interested in a long term relationship with our customers and will continue to be part of your team providing support and maintenance services.